Best Served Cold
by yuji-i16
Summary: We're born, and we fall in love, but we often don't get to live happily ever after, especially when everyone around us seems to want us to fall apart, a tale of love and vengeance. NejiTen Sequel to Possession
1. Chapter I

Chapter One

A/N: Well, I decided to write the sequel, so here you go

They arrived at Konoha in the middle of the day as if nothing had changed.  In fact, if it weren't for their disheveled appearances, their return would've probably gone completely unnoticed.  The boy with the bowl-cut was walking with his head held high, a barely visible limp in his steps.  The only adult in the party, attired completely in green, wore a wide smile on his face that stretched all the way to his eyes.  The other two teens were leaning on each other, stumbling into town, but wore looks of stubborn pride and accomplishment.

They were greeted by a Chuunin with spiky hair and a bandage across his nose.  He carted them off towards the Hokage's office, and the crowd of bystanders who had previously been frozen where they stood, now seemed to thaw out and go on with their daily lives.

Tsunade looked up from the pile of papers on her desk to greet the returning ninjas.  "All went well, I assume?"

"Of course!" Gai replied.  "My brilliant students can handle anything this crazy world throws at them." He flashed a ten-thousand watt smile at his superior, and then ushered Lee out of the office.

Tsunade blinked several times, readjusting her eyes.  "Do you two have anything to report?"

"We did what you wanted." Neji replied.

TenTen didn't bother to look up.

"Then the Phoenix is gone?" Kotetsu questioned.

TenTen nodded slightly and then clutched at Neji's arm.  "Can you walk me home?"

"I'll take you." Her brother offered.  He could see the exhaustion rippling off of her with each breath she took.  He crossed the office to take her by the hand, but she passed out and fell into his arms.  He hoisted her up to carry her comfortably and took his leave.

"You want to clarify exactly what happened?"

"She had a brother."

"Hmm?"

"TenTen.  She wasn't the last one like everyone thought.  She had an older brother."

"Had?"

"They fought.  He died because of that."

"I see.  Anything else?"

"Yes." As she watched, his entire body stiffened.  "On the way to cure ourselves, I was taken hostage and nearly killed by the Shiratori brothers." He clenched his fists.  "I don't care how much paperwork you have to do, I want to be the one who goes after them, finds them, and kills them."

"Neji…"

"I made her a promise.  I'm not going to break that."

"For now you should try to heal."

He bristled in anger at her response.  "Hokage-sama!"

"We can discuss this later.  I'm not sending an injured ninja after dangerous criminals."

Still angry, he stormed out of the office towards his home.

~~~

Despite his passionate words, that was the last time Tsunade allowed him to speak of the Shiratori case again.  He and TenTen passed the Chuunin exam with ease the next year and were assigned to different teams.  He rarely saw her after that, but as the years passed he found himself doing whatever it took to spend time with her.  When he couldn't take being away from her any longer he did the only thing he could think of to ensure that she would be by his side.  He married her.

They were eighteen now, and they had an infant daughter who was nearly seven months old.  They had married young, even by their village's standards, and their daughter's birth had come to a shock to both her father and his mother, but they'd taken it in stride and accepted their roles as doting grandparents.

He was serving as an ANBU now, although he was waiting on his opportunity to take the Jounin exam.  After Haruka's birth, TenTen had opted for a less life-threatening job.  Unwilling to let her skills as a ninja just go to waste, she took a job as a teacher at the Ninja Academy under Iruka-sensei's recommendation.  She mainly taught the children how to use projectile weapons, but she was available for other things.

"TenTen-sensei?" She was working with the young children today.  They were only eight years old, but some of them showed great promise, like little Outarou-kun, who kept to himself, but had managed to get attached to her.  He was a genius and was above the level of most of the kids in her class, and she'd heard the other teachers whispering about entering him in the Chuunin exam.

"What is it Outarou-kun?"

"There's a man here who wants to see you."

"Really?  What's his name?"

"He didn't say, but he's an ANBU and he says he knows you."

"Did you tell him that we don't let strangers in here?"

"Hai!" He said cheerily, and then his face fell.  "But he said that he didn't have time to waste."

"Well, did you at least ask him to take off his mask?"

"He said he'd rather not."

A gruff voice interrupted her banter with the child.  "TenTen."

She turned to face the owner of the voice.  The dark haired ANBU was standing in the doorway, his arms folded across his chest.  She recognized him immediately.  "Outarou-kun, why don't you go outside and play with the other kids?  I'll be back in a few minutes to start classes."

He gazed at her sadly, but left her with the ANBU.

"Why didn't you come to me right away?"

"I wasn't sure it was you.  I was being cautious."

He sighed deeply.  "TenTen, I've got something serious to tell you."

"What is it?"

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a rolled up piece of paper.  "Here." He handed it to her.

She accepted it from him, and scanned it for a long moment.  When she was done she sank down into her chair and sighed.  "You have a mission?"

"Yes." He sat on the edge of the desk.  "I don't know how long I'll be gone, so you should make arrangements for someone to watch Haruka during the day."

"Did you have to take this assignment?"

"I made a promise when we were thirteen.  I can't turn this down."

"Neji, don't you remember what happened the last time you ran into them?"

He clenched his fists.  "I've gotten stronger since then, you know that.  They won't be able to beat me." He looked away.  "And besides, I'm not the only one Hokage-sama is sending."

"Yes, but you're the only one that's my husband.  If you get hurt I won't be able to live with myself.  I know you're only doing this because of me."

"TenTen, this is my duty as a ninja.  Dangerous criminals ought to be brought to justice.  They've been on the run for five years.  We can't let them continue to flee from retribution."

"Neji, I don't want you to go."

"I came here because I didn't want you to find out from your brother."

"You would go anyway?"

He gritted his teeth behind his mask.  "This is something I need to do, or they'll come back here for you and me again."

She avoided looking at his face.  "I understand that you feel you have to do this, but could you please be safe?"

"Don't worry about me."

"You should get going.  Don't you have to leave now?"

"Keh." He lifted his mask to the top of his head.  "They can wait a couple more seconds." He leaned over and shared a kiss with his wife.

The couple's bliss was interrupted by the return of several of the students.  "Eww!  Teacher's kissing a BOY!"

TenTen separated from her husband, a crimson blush staining her cheeks.  "Guys, what are you doing back so early?"

One of the little girls pointed up at the clock.  "It's time for class."

She glanced at it, her blush deepening.  "Ah, so it is."

Neji stood, slipping his mask back into place.  "Later." He strode from the classroom quickly.

One of the girls frowned.  "Teacher's boyfriend is cute."

"We're married." TenTen stood, pushing her worry to the back of her mind.  "Let's not get distracted, it's time to start class."


	2. Chapter II

Chapter Two

A/N: My apologies for the shortness of this chapter, but I couldn't help it.  I had to introduce Kiba, because he hardly got any play in the last story and I really like him.  Don't worry though, as soon as I get inspiration, Neji will return in more detail.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, period.

Inuzuka Kiba raised his hand to knock on the door of the Hyuuga home.  He and Neji were by no means the best of friends, but the year and a half they'd spent on the same team had helped them to arrive at a mutual understanding, which was why he'd agreed to check on the older man's family while he was away.

He knocked sharply on the door and it was answered seconds later by TenTen, infant daughter in her arms.  She had just changed out of her Chuunin uniform and was wearing blue jeans and one of Neji's T-shirts.  "Ah, Kiba-kun, it's nice to see you."

"Hi." He scratched his messy hair.  "Sorry to drop in on you like this, but can I come in?"

She nodded and stepped aside to let him in.  "I'm sorry about the mess, but Neji packed in a hurry and I haven't had a chance to clean yet."

He entered the apartment, Akamaru on his heels.  "It's okay TenTen, our place is a lot worse than this."

She sat down on the couch, cradling Haruka carefully.  "Did Neji ask you to come?"

He sat next to her.  "Yes.  He wanted to make sure you and Haruka were safe."

"It's thoughtful of him, but I can take care of myself."

He folded his hands behind his head.  "That's what I told him, but he insisted."

She sighed.  "Have you eaten dinner yet?"

He shook his head.

"Good, I have too much food here for one anyway, just let me put Haruka to bed and I'll be right back."

~~~

The familiar surroundings flew by Neji, as he left Konoha further and further behind.  He wasn't worried about the mission at all.  The ANBU members that he was working with were fairly talented ninjas, but he was more than enough to take on the Shiratori brothers.  The others had been sent with him because there had been reports of the two former ninjas of Konoha banding together with other outcasts and criminals.  As a group they had continued to commit heinous crimes and had yet to be disciplined, or even caught.

He wasn't bothered by the possibly danger that his life was in, what bothered him was that those damned Shiratoris may have circled around and headed to Konoha right after he left.  If they were any good, it would be no big deal to infiltrate their former village, and go looking for TenTen.  It was obvious that they held a grudge.

He knew he could count on Kiba and Hinata to watch out for his wife and daughter, and that even though she would oppose it, she understood his concerns.

His team leader turned to look at him.  "Oi, Neji, are you okay?"

Now two more of his teammates were looking at him strangely.

"Ahh." He cleared his mind of the image of TenTen staring absently up at him as he left her behind in the classroom.  "I'm fine."

"This is the first time you've left your family, isn't it?" The ANBU speaking was also on Neji's Chuunin team and had even attended his wedding.  "After the baby was born, I mean?"

"It doesn't matter.  Right now, this mission is the only important thing.  My wife and daughter will be waiting for me when I get back."

"That's the spirit."

Neji inwardly winced at his leader's words.  It almost sounded like something Gai-sensei would say, minus his usual flamboyance.  He wondered for a moment how he and Lee were doing, but then he pushed it out of hi head, focusing only on the mission at hand.

~~~

Kiba stretched the sheet up to TenTen's neck.  She'd fallen asleep on his shoulder in the middle of their conversation, and he'd gotten her comfortable.  She deserved it anyway, after all she'd been through.  Five minutes later the soft knock he'd been expecting came.

He opened the front door.  "Hinata, I'm glad you made it."

"Kiba-kun, how is she doing?"

"She and the baby are asleep, but she's doing okay for now, are you still going to come by in the morning to check on her?"

She nodded.  "Neji-niisan asked me to."

"Well then, we should get going." He exited the apartment and closed the door quietly behind him.  "So you just got back from training?"

"Yes."

"How was it?"

"Father says that I should be able to master Heavenly Spin soon."

He smiled and stuck his hands in his pockets.  Hinata was a good person.  After the horrible incident with Neji five years ago she had managed to reconcile with both her father and her cousin.  It had been hard, because at first, Neji had wanted nothing to do with his family, but she had kept at, and made friends with TenTen.  After that, Neji couldn't prevent the inevitable.

Their relationship had been rocky at first, as they'd never really been friends, but after he'd been assigned to the ANBU squad they'd gotten closer.  Around that time she made up with her father and he'd begun to teach her again.

She was finally dating Uzumaki Naruto, and even though it hurt, he was really happy for her.  After all she'd been through in her seventeen years it was good to see her smile again, even if it wasn't for him.  In fact, she'd agreed to stop by her cousin's place to pick him up on the way to meet the others at Ichiraku.  He'd already eaten, so he wasn't going to stick around, but he still wasn't comfortable with the idea of her walking around alone late at night.

"Kiba-kun, do you think Neji-niisan will be alright?  I'm sure TenTen is worrying a lot about him."

He sighed and gazed up at the stars.  "Neji is a strong ninja, and his teammates are powerful too.  I'm sure he's gonna come back fine."

"You're probably right."

"We should hurry up.  Naruto'll probably worry if you're late." Kiba rolled his eyes inwardly at his statement.  Even though Naruto had grown up in the time, if a bowl of ramen was placed in front of him, all his problems went out the window.

"Aren't you going to stay?"

Ichiraku's lights shone in the distance.   "No, sorry, but TenTen already fed me." He rubbed his stomach in satisfaction.  "Neji should go out of town more often."

"_Kiba-kun_." Hinata shook her head in disapproval.

"I'm kidding, besides, she talked me to death.  Right now I'm just ready to walk home and turn in for the night."

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow then."  Hinata stopped in front of him, waved and then entered, walking up to her waiting boyfriend.  When he saw her, he rested his chopsticks on the table and embraced her, then went back to eating.

Kiba waved in return and sighed.  Well, he had another day with TenTen and Haruka to look forward to.  Why had he volunteered for this to begin with?


	3. Chapter III

Chapter Three

A/N: Once again I apologize for the brevity of this chapter, it really felt like it was flowing, but it turned out to be shorter than I thought.  Oh well, I'll make it up to you guys soon, don't worry.

Before she'd even opened her eyes she knew she had overslept.  On top of that there was the tell-tale crick in her neck that resulted from a night spent on their hard couch.  Groggily she sat up and wondered briefly how she'd managed to fall asleep here.  She remembered talking to Kiba for a while and then after that everything went blank.  Well, no matter, she should go get ready for work.

She stumbled into the bedroom she and her husband shared with their daughter.  For now the second bedroom was only for guests, but once Haruka was old enough, they'd move her in there.  She walked over to the crib and peered in.  "Morning swee…" Her voice trailed off.

The crib was empty.  Almost instantly her body was shaken with chills.  Her daughter was missing.  She sank down into a heap on the floor.  They'd hardly been left alone for a day and already she'd lost their only child.  She was a complete and utter failure as a mother.  This news would kill Neji.  He adored Haruka so much, and from him to come home from such a taxing mission to find out that their daughter was kidnapped or murdered or worse…

She couldn't stand it.  How could something like this happen?  She had to think.  Calling her father was probably best, he would know what to do.  Before she could stand though, she felt a weight pressing itself into her lap and looked down to find herself looking into a pair of eager white eyes.

Relief flooded her body.  "Don't scare me like that." She murmured, taking the child into her arms.  "I love you so much."

Haruka made a content noise in the back of her throat.

"Did you come looking for me?" TenTen smiled at her daughter.  She'd never slept in the room alone before.  The poor girl was probably scared.  "C'mon." She stood up.  "We need to go take a bath."

TenTen emerged from the house thirty minutes later, fresh and ready to take on the world.  Her mother-in-law had arrived fifteen minutes prior and had taken Haruka to her house for the rest of the morning.

Dressed in her Chuunin uniform, she began the trek to the Ninja Academy, forming her excuses in her head.  Simply saying she'd overslept wasn't good enough, even though Iruka-sensei was a kind person, he wouldn't accept that.  She wasn't the only person here with worries.

She entered the schoolyard and Iruka was there waiting for her as his class jogged.  "Good Morning TenTen."

"Good Morning."

"You're late."

"I know." She hung her head.  "I'm sorry."

He turned and smiled at her.  "It's okay.  Kiba stopped by and said that you were up very late the other night worrying about Neji and you might be late."

"Thank you."

"A substitute is covering your first class, but if you hurry, you will be able to finish it up."

"I will." TenTen sprinted across the yard and entered the actual building.

Iruka smiled at her retreating figure.  It was almost hard for him to believe that it had already been over six years since she and her husband had graduated from his class.  Quite a few of his former students were doing well, but the number that came back to aid the younger generation was small, so he had been pleased when she agreed to join the staff.  She was an excellent teacher, enthusiastic and patient, and her skill had commanded the attention of her students instantly.  They all adored her, even the older girls who were jealous of the attention the boys gave her.  Of course, it had taken Neji's occasional presence for the girls to get over their initial jealousy, but TenTen had handled it well, perhaps because she was so young and remembered how it had felt to have the boys she liked more interested in someone or something else.

Of course there were times when she, like they all had once, regretted her decision to become a teacher.  To their peers it seemed like a job that was taken on when they realized that they had no hope of ever advancing.  But being a teacher, despite it being low profit, was probably one of the most rewarding jobs in the village.  He couldn't deny the swell of pride he got whenever he heard of Naruto or Sasuke or Shikamaru or one of the others completing an especially dangerous mission, and in a few years TenTen would know the same feeling.

He smiled to himself and turned his attention back to the students that were starting to finish their laps.  TenTen was such a kind person that it was hard not to wish her the best.  He had been told by her brother several years ago that for the most part it was a front, designed to protect herself, and that she had a deep darker side buried within her, but after spending the past year working with her, he refused to believe in anything but the genuine goodness he saw.

~~~

Senrou, the leader of Neji's five man unit, stopped their progress with a wave of his hand.  He knelt and studied the ground ahead of them.  "They passed by this way."

"How many of them?"

"No more than seven.  And they haven't become very talented at covering up their tracks."

"Is it possible that this is a trap?"

"Of course, that's why I want the rest of you to stay back here in case of an ambush.  Hyuuga and I will go on ahead."

Nodding to acknowledge his orders, Neji took off after his boss.  They traveled slowly, the older man stopping occasionally to sniff the air.  Five minutes later he held a hand up to stop his companion.  "You might as well come out."

The bushes rustled behind them and one of the members of their squad emerged from them, sweat and blood staining his jacket.

He stepped forward.  "I came to warn you.  They ambushed us and then came this way.  I'm just glad I got here in time."

Even though the mask was covering his face, Senrou appeared troubled.  "Thanks a lot, you've done your job." He stroked his chin in deep thought.  "It appears they were a bit more trouble than we estimated."

"Correction.  We are a lot more trouble than you estimated." The ANBU leapt towards Senrou, slashing his throat in one clean motion.

Neji watched, stunned, as the elder man's limp body fell to the ground, blood gushing from his neck wound.

Sighing in satisfaction, the traitor removed his mask to reveal a familiar face.  In five years he had acquired deep scars that marred his appearance, but Neji recognized him none the less.

"Shiratori Bastard!" Neji felt the veins stretch across his face in anger as he focused his power to his eyes.

Before he could take a step forward he felt a kunai press against the skin of his own neck.  "Watch your step Neji-_chan_, my hand may just slip and cut you."

The one in front of him smirked.  "And that would be saddening, because we have such a wonderful revenge planned out for you."

The young Hyuuga didn't even bother restraining his anger.   "You killed my comrades just to get to me?"

"Why Neji-_chan_, I thought you'd be pleased to know everything was all about you?" He sucker punched Neji in the stomach and smiled at the sound of the man's blood hitting the wooden mask he was wearing.

The twin behind him spoke.  "Ryoji, we should get him back to the camp so we can start our revenge."


	4. Chapter IV

Chapter 4

A/N: I got myself motivated and wrote myself a chapter in one sitting.  YAY me!  And on top of that, I managed to get this chapter done before a week was up.  Well here you have it, Chapter four of Best Served Cold.

Work had proved to be entertaining after all.  For the first time in a while she had been pleased to have rolled out of bed at the end of the day.  In her second class, she'd had to intervene in a fight between the class clown and the class hunk.  The dispute had started over something silly, perhaps the clown was jealous of his classmate, or perhaps one had given the other a strange look, either way, they had interrupted her lesson over a silly childhood argument.  She rolled his eyes as she remembered the moment.  If history repeated itself like they claimed, then those two would find themselves becoming the best of friends.

She'd delayed her punishment until after school was over and then made them run fifty laps around the town, inwardly thanking Gai-sensei for the ridiculous yet rigorous training he had put them through.  Despite how much their bodies had protested, he deserved credit for the ninjas they had become.

It was after five when the second ninja candidate had crossed the finished line, collapsing in a heap at her feet.  She took pity on the poor boy and invited him to go with her and Outarou-kun for ramen.  He perked up substantially at the mention of food and she wondered absently if he was related to a certain blonde shinobi.  

She watched him run ahead of them and smiled to herself.  When she spent time with her students outside of class she couldn't help but observe them and wonder if she would have moments like these with her daughter when she got older.

TenTen and Outarou arrived at Ichiraku to find Daijiro already sitting at the counter, sloppily eating a large bowl of miso ramen.  He turned just as they entered, sucking the mess of noodles into his mouth.  "I already ordered for us, is that okay?"

She forced a smile, eyeing the three empty bowls stacked next to him.  "Thanks." She sat down next to the energetic dark-haired boy and helped Outarou up onto the seat at her side.

Ichiraku's owner placed a bowl in front of her and one in front of her little friend.  

She nodded at him.  "Thank you."  Before she began eating she shot a look at her delinquent student.  "Say, Daijiro, what was that about in class?"

He blushed and turned his head away.  "Nothing."

"It's in my experience that twelve-year-old boys don't get that worked up over nothing."

"And just what do you know about twelve-year-old boys, sensei?"

"Hey!" She took offense to that remark.  "I was twelve once.  In fact, it wasn't that long ago."

"But you're not a boy, so it doesn't matter."

"When I was twelve, I had friends who were boys." It suddenly dawned on her.  Her lips curved upward, exposing two rows of white teeth, forming a wide smile like the Cheshire cat's.  "This wouldn't happen to be about a girl, would it?"

He ducked his head so she wouldn't see his expression.  "No."

"So it is about a girl."

"I just told you it wasn't."

Her tone became serious.  "It isn't nice to lie to your sensei Daijiro, especially when she's buying you dinner."

He sighed.  "If I tell you, you promise you won't tell anyone else."

"I swear."

"There's this girl I like in class."

She smiled in triumph.  "I knew it was a girl."

"SENSEI!" He complained.

"I'm sorry, keep going." She broke her chopsticks apart and began to eat.

"The thing is, she doesn't notice me at all, all she and the other girls care about is Katsuya.  It's so annoying, and he treats all of them like dirt, even when they spend their allowance on presents for them.  He even tore up a letter she wrote him in class, that's why I fought with him."

"Oh!  I understand now.  You're jealous."

"Am not!"

"Whatever you say jealous boy." She began giggling at his expense.

He looked horrified.  "SENSEI!"

"I'm sorry." She smothered the giggles in her sleeve and when she was able to compose herself she turned to face him again.  "You've got nothing to worry about Daijiro, you're a nice boy, and it won't be long before the girls notice it and they forget about Katsuya."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive.  And just in case, I'll have a little talk with Katsuya about respecting women."

"SENSEI!"

"What now?"

"Don't talk to him.  Then he and all the other boys will call me a punk for running my mouth to the teacher."

"Fine then.  I won't talk to him."

Finally full, the boy rested his chopsticks down on the counter next to his bowl and exhaled loudly, rubbing his rounded stomach.  "I better go home before Mom starts worrying about me." He slid off the stool and waved goodbye to her.  "See you tomorrow sensei!"

"Bye."

A few seconds after Daijiro departed, TenTen feel the seat next to her once again become occupied.  She looked up and met with the sparkling aqua eyes of a certain blonde chuunin.  He opened his mouth to make a request, but she silenced him before he could continue.  "No Naruto, I will not buy ramen for you."

"But TenTen-chan, I promise to pay you back."

She turned away from him.  "You really should buy your own food, you do make more money on your missions than I make on my teacher's salary."

"But, Teachers have always paid for me."

"Then it's about time we break you out of that habit."

He pouted at her good-naturedly and then barked his order at the chef.  "So who was the kid that was here just now?  Should Neji be worried?"

"Very funny Naruto.  He's one of my students, and he reminds me a lot of a certain _someone_." She stared pointedly at him.

"Really?" He raised his eyebrows.  "How so?"

"For one, he really knows how to put away his ramen and even runs the same scam that you do."

"Hey!  It's not a scam."

She ignored him.  "Plus he has a habit of getting into trouble, and picks fights with the most popular guy in class on behalf of all the girls.  Now if that doesn't sound just like the stories I heard about you at his age from Iruka I don't know what does."

"If that's true, then he must be a good kid."

"Yeah.  He'll make a good shinobi."

"You're still worried about him, aren't you?"

"Hmm?" She turned to face him.  "Actually, this was the first time I've thought about him in over two hours.  Spending time with these kids takes my mind off of my troubles."

He smiled knowingly.  "Kids tend to be like that."

Resting her chopsticks in her empty bowl, TenTen placed her hand under her chin and leaned on the counter.  "What about you and Hinata?"

Mouth half-full and eyebrows furrowed in confusion, he stared up at her.  "Huh?"

"Do you plan on getting serious with her?"

He swallowed fast, nearly choking himself at the question.  "Are you serious?"

"Of course I am.  She is practically my sister."

"Hinata-chan is a good person and I am very happy with her, but we're only seventeen and I don't know if I'm ready for a commitment like that."

"Like what?" She raised an eyebrow, fighting to hide the amusement she got from watching the boy's inner conflict.

"Like you and Neji.  I mean…you guys are only a year older than us and you're already married and have a baby.  I don't know if I can do that same thing right now."

"No one's asking you to." She shrugged.  "I just wanted to know if you really liked her or if you were dating her because Sakura is with Sasuke."

He shook his head quickly.  "I really like her, and now that we're older I don't think she's so weird anymore."

"That's good." She dismounted from the stool and helped Outarou down, placing some bills on the counter in the process.  "I better head home before Neji's mother thinks I got kidnapped or lost."

Naruto waved her away, digging into another bowl of ramen.

"TenTen-sensei, I'm going to stay with you tonight, right?"

"That's right Outarou-kun." The boy's father, his last living relative, had recently been killed while on a mission, and he was being taken care of by his teachers until Godaime could find a permanent home for him.  TenTen had forfeited her scheduled time with him and offered to watch the boy until Neji returned from his mission, and then she planned to bring up his care to her husband after he had settled in.

She climbed up the stairs to her apartment and unlocked it.  Her mother-in-law was standing a few feet away from the door, the telltale lines of anxiety showing on her face.  The woman sighed in relief at her daughter-in-law's entrance.  "Thank God."

TenTen smiled sheepishly.  "I'm sorry if I caused you any trouble.  I had to supervise punishment for two of my students."  

The woman took in the sight of the little white-haired boy hiding behind TenTen's leg.  "And you picked up a stray along the way?"

"No.  This is Outarou-kun.  I told you about him, he'll be staying with me for a few days, just until Neji gets home."

"Ahh.  Welcome.  I'm the other Mrs. Hyuuga." She extended the hand that wasn't supporting Haruka's weight to the little boy and shook his hand.  "You have a strong handshake."

He smiled at the compliment.  "Thank you."

"Well, my job is done for the night.  I've already fed and changed her." She kissed her granddaughter on the forehead and then handed her to her mother.  "I'll see you in the morning."

"Yeah." TenTen let the woman out and then turned to her guest.  "Well, Outarou, why don't you get changed and get used to your bedroom?" She pointed him in the direction of the spare room and went off to her own room to put her daughter to bed.

It turned out that Outarou wasn't the type of boy who was easily tired.  She had to bring out her entire stash of old board games and spend three hours playing against him before he finally fell asleep.

Exhausted, TenTen didn't even bother to put the games away, she just stumbled into her room and collapsed onto the bed, falling instantly into a deep sleep.

To her it only felt like moments later when she was roused by loud persistent knocking at her door.  She rolled over and glanced at her alarm clock.  _One thirty-six__._  What was that person thinking?  Deciding to ignore it, TenTen lifted her pillow and pressed it down over her head, trying in vain to drown out the noise.

Finally after five minutes of the incessant knocking, she dragged herself out of bed and entered the living room.  Flipping on the light switch she walked over to the door and fumbled with the latches for a few moments before undoing them.  She jerked the door open.  "What the hell's your problem?"

Her angry question met only thin air.  Now confused, she would've shut the door and went back to bed if she didn't feel a gloved hand wrapping around her bare foot.  She glanced down only to feel her eyes widen in horror.  A bloodied and battered ANBU member was lying in the threshold of her doorway.  He was barely able to raise his head, and could hardly tighten his fingers around her ankle to pull himself up to his feet.

She knelt at his side, hoping against hope that this man wasn't who she thought he was.  However, her hopes were dashed when his lips parted behind his mask and uttered her name.  

"Neji?"


	5. Chapter V

Chapter Five

A/N: Well, here we go, another chapter, just for everyone who wanted to know what happened to Neji.  Don't worry, I don't think I could ever kill him, but don't expect _Best Served Cold_ to be without its twists and turns.  On another note, why do parents always find it necessary to talk to little children in the third person?  Just something to think about…

It seemed like her life was a series of highs and lows, both coming on the heels of each other.  One of her more amusing days at work and a real connection with one of her students was followed immediately by discovering her husband's badly beaten body at her front door.  She'd woken up Outarou and Haruka and then called her brother explaining what had happened.  Kotetsu had made arrangements for him to be taken to the hospital, and that's where she was waiting right now.

He'd been taken in for surgery nearly two hours ago and the suspense was killing her inside.  Outarou was sleeping with his head in Kotetsu's lap, and she was holding her wide-awake daughter in her arms.  She'd begun to move restlessly in her arms, and TenTen could tell that the baby wanted to be put down.  She stood up.  "Kotetsu I'll be back."

He nodded and smiled when she gave the little boy's hair an affectionate tousle and walked away.

TenTen stopped at the front desk.  "I'm sorry to ask this, but I've been waiting on my husband to get out of surgery and my daughter's getting restless…"

The tired woman cut her off.  "Playroom's just down the hall."

TenTen walked slowly down the silent hall to the room at the very end.  She pushed the door open and they were met with pitch blackness.  She flicked on the light switch and her eyes were suddenly flooded with color.  Nearly every type of toy imaginable was tucked away into some corner of this kid-proofed room.  The walls and cupboards were padded to avoid injury.

Haruka seemed to see the toys lined off against the walls and began to squirm in her arms again.

"Okay." TenTen bent her knees and placed the baby on the floor.  Haruka scooted off right away, her sights set on a red rubber ball.  Her mother stayed in that position, watching as the tiny girl pushed the ball around the room.  

Haruka was their hope.  As far as they knew she wasn't possessed by the Phoenix, but she couldn't avoid the sneaking suspicion that there was something in her daughter other than the Hyuuga bloodline that made her different from other children.  She was a happy baby though, always smiling and playing with anyone she saw.

It must've been nice to be a child, to always see the good in everyone, to see the best in every situation, to keep smiling even when their friends died all around them.  She couldn't remember much of her childhood anymore.  She knew in her heart that she had been happy with her parents and brother, but as far back as she could remember, she'd always wanted to be a great kunoichi and had devoted her life to that.  Ever since she'd been entered in the Ninja Academy, her life was destined to be different from regular children.

TenTen was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't even notice Haruka had stopped playing with the toys.  She just kept staring into the corner of the room, and finally snapped out of her reverie when she felt tiny hands on her ankle.

Haruka's big white eyes were boring holes into hers and TenTen was suddenly struck with the feeling that the baby could see straight through into her heart.  That feeling was strengthened moments later when the little girl's infectious smile faded, replaced by a look of solemn sadness.

TenTen smiled softly and sat down, letting the girl crawl into her lap, the ball cradled in her hands.  "Mommy's sorry for being sad, it's just…" She stroked the baby's short brown hair.  "I'm worried about Daddy.  I know you can't really understand me, but I don't know what I would do if something bad happened to him.  The two of you are all I have."

Haruka lifted her hands, extending the ball towards her mother.

TenTen accepted the toy and embraced the girl.  "I love you so much." She sniffed and found herself wiping away tears.  "I don't know why I'm so worried.  Daddy would never leave us, he loves us too much."

Someone knocked gently on the door.  She turned to face the door and saw Kotetsu leaning against it, Outarou hanging onto his forearm sleepily.  "Sis, the doctor wants to see you."

"Ah." TenTen stood and then bent over to scoop up her daughter, but her brother stopped her.

"I'll watch her and Outarou-kun.  You just go and find out what he wants."

The woman nodded in gratitude and kissed her brother on his cheek.  "Thanks a lot for everything.  You've been a great help." She returned to where they were sitting in the lobby and the doctor who had disappeared into the surgical theater with her husband was standing there, clipboard in hand.

"Ahh…Mrs. Hyuuga.  I have good news.  Neji's condition has been stabilized and he's awake."

She managed quite easily to keep the excitement out of her voice.  "Then I can go in and see him?"

"Of course, he's been asking to see you nonstop." He stepped in front of her.  "If you'd just come this way." He led the woman down the winding hall until he stopped in front of Neji's room.  From where they stood in front of the glass window, they could see that he was sitting up in the bed, massaging his forehead with his fingers.

Relief flooded her body just then.  He was bandaged nearly from head to toe, but he was alright.

"Are you going to just stand there?" The doctor smiled knowingly at her.  "He's waiting for you."

TenTen regained control of herself and pushed the door open.  "Neji, I was so worried about you, especially after you fainted outside our door.  I really thought that this time you would be gone for good."

He lifted his head and glanced at her, giving her a full view of his haunted white eyes.

"I told you I'd get rid of them for you."

"Neji, you didn't have to do that, especially if they did this to you.  I don't ever want you to be hurt, even if you say it's to defend me."

He clenched his fist in the sheets.  "Everyone else on my team…they killed them."

She climbed onto the bed behind him, wrapped her arms around her waist and leaned her head against his back.  "I know it hurts…knowing that you can't protect everyone, but all that matters is that you're here and you're safe."

"It sucks…I'll always remember their faces and seeing their dead bodies, watching Senrou get his neck sliced.  As a ninja I've seen worse things, but for some reason, watching the Shiratoris hurt more people that were important to me…the anger gave me more chakra, enough to call on the Phoenix's power again.  This time…I made sure they were gone, but I paid the price." He unwrapped the bandage around his left hand and showed her the badly burned palm.  "It won't heal on its own like it used to.  The Phoenix…it really is gone."

"Neji…"

"I should be happy.  The Phoenix is really gone, I'm back with my family and the Shiratori brothers are finally gone from our lives after five long years."

"I know."

"Then why do I feel like shit?"

She lifted a hand and started to stroke his hair.  "It's because sometimes when we have to watch other people die we feel like we've cheated when we survive.  But there's no reason to feel guilty.  Your wife and your daughter love you, and we would've been lost without you."

Neji placed his hand on top of hers.  "I didn't mean to worry you.  I just had to do this. I wouldn't be able to face you if I didn't."

"Let's not talk about this anymore, okay?  Let's put it behind us.  I just want to take Haruka and Outarou and you and go home and sleep."

"Outarou?" Neji's voice took on a decidedly jealous tone.  "Who's that?"

She smiled against his back.  "He's one of my students Neji.  You don't have anything to worry about.  His father died and he needs someone to stay with, so I volunteered to keep him thinking you'd be gone a little longer."

"Why would you do that?"

"He's a sweet kid Neji, and he's lonely, just like you used to be.  Just spend a little time with him and you'll grow to love him too."

Neji raised an eyebrow.  "Too?"

She smiled sheepishly at him.  "We'll talk about this later okay, right after you come home."

Against his will, he felt his lips curling up into a smile.  "God I missed you."

"It's only been two days." She kissed his cheek.  "But I missed you too."

The door swung open and Kotetsu entered, pushing a wheelchair.  "You two lovebirds going to play kissey-face forever or are you going to go home and do it there?"

"Home already?"

"Turns out his wounds looked more savage than they actually were.  Doc says he's cleared to go home as soon as he's ready."

'_Neji…thank God you're okay.' _ She buried her face in his shoulder, wiping away her silent tears.  _'Really…thank God.'_


	6. Chapter VI

Chapter Six

A/N: Well here goes the new chapter and a warning beforehand, there are some dark themes ahead, mostly cause a happy ever after in the sixth chapter is a bit too premature for my tastes.  But that said, I hope you won't decide not to read anymore, cause that would make me sad.

"Now, isn't that cute?" A dark figure muted the power on a television.  "Honestly, the happy reunion of a man and his wife after time apart always gets me every time."

"Very funny Ryoji.  For that to happen, you'd need a heart."

The Ryoji in question was of course Shiratori Ryoji, who contrary to popular belief was not dead.  In fact, he was very much alive and well.  Now that could be confusing, as he had been reported dead by Hyuuga Neji who had claimed to kill him with his bare hands.  How was it possible?  Easy.  Hyuuga Neji hadn't killed him.  In fact, Hyuuga Neji hadn't even returned home.  The last surviving member of his ANBU squad was sitting in a cage, smoldering with rage as he watched some other person, a fake who had taken his face, touch his wife, cry with her and hold her and his daughter.

Kenji looked up from where he was digging in the refrigerator.  No, he wasn't dead either.  "I wouldn't do that if I were you.  Didn't we already tell you that that cage restricts the use of Chakra.  Unless you're in the mood for an electric shock I'd suggest you keep your anger in check."

"I'm still amazed.  Fuyuki is able to reproduce a person he has only seen for a few moments, straight down to his every mannerism.  We've been planning this for years, ever since we met up with him and the others.  It took a long time to come up with the perfect revenge.  You see…" His calm looks twisted to reveal his inner psychosis.  "…just killing you wasn't enough anymore.  You needed to suffer just like we had to.  For five years you were living the perfect life with the girl that we broke.  You were lucky enough to put her back together, which fit right into our plan, because now we're going to shatter her again, but this time it'll be impossible to find all the pieces."

His brother returned to the living room, slipping a poorly made sandwich between the bars of the small cage, placing it in front Neji.  "Eat up.  We don't want you to pass out and miss out on any second of this." He walked over to the couch and smacked Ryoji on the back of the head.

"What the hell?"

"Don't be an ass Ryoji.  Why are you telling him our plan?"

"He can't get out of there.  The most he'll do is work himself into a frenzy and injure himself some more.  Besides, we're going to kill him after we're done with his wife anyway."

Kenji spoke in the direction of the cage as the images on the screen entered the bedroom and TenTen placed the sleeping baby in the crib.  "I can only begin to imagine what must be going through your head right now.  Thinking about Fuyuki sleeping next to your wife, kissing your daughter goodnight, holding her, feeding her.  A murderous bastard like him being so close to your precious family, and you can't do anything about it.  We don't have any control over him you know, he outranks us.  He may decide to do things to her that'll make you squirm."

"And we'll enjoy watching every moment of it."

"The best thing is that through the whole thing she'll be thinking he's you.  If we do decide to spare your lives there's no way either of you will be able to move on past this.  She'll never forgive you for getting captured and letting this happen to her and you'll never forgive her for essentially cheating on you."

"You don't know anything about us." Neji countered, somehow words making their way past the bile collecting in his throat.

"You messed up Kenji, he can still talk."

"Even I have a limit to how much I can beat up a defenseless guy."

"God Kenji, can't you even do such a simple thing?" He climbed up out of the seat and stumbled over to the cage.

"Careful Ryoji, those bars are pretty wide.  Just because he can't use Chakra doesn't mean he can't fight back."

"Yeah yeah." The Shiratori squatted in front of the cage.  "I bet by now you hate us a whole lot.  I mean, just when you think you've gotten rid of us we just sprout up again to screw you over in a whole new way, just like cockroaches."

His brother groaned.  "Do you have to compare us to that?  I'm not an insect."

"Whatever, I'm creating a metaphor here." He ignored his brother and refocused on Neji.  "To think, this all started with the Chuunin exam.  You could've avoided all of this if you'd just ignored us and went on your way, showed up some other people who didn't have a knack for vengeance."

Neji continued to just sit, trying his hardest to block out Ryoji's words.  He wouldn't allow whatever they showed him to hurt him, instead he would wait, biding his time until there was a way for him to get out of here.

"Resolute, isn't he?" Ryoji turned to his brother.  "Probably coming up with a plan, and this time he's going to make sure he kills us."

"Can't blame him for trying."

"She won't fall for it."

"For what?"

"Fuyuki.  It may take her a while, but she's going to see straight through it.  TenTen knows me.  No matter how much he's watched me there's no way he can emulate me perfectly."

Ryoji's hands shot through the bars of the cage and wrapped around the neck of his captive.  "I liked him better when he was unconscious."

"Careful Ryoji, if you kill him you'll ruin the plan."

"I'm not going to kill him." He hissed, squeezing harder on the younger man's neck.  "I'm just gonna mess up his vocal chords a bit."

Neji struggled for air against the vice-like grip of the older ninja, the whole time staring defiantly into his eyes, channeling all of his anger and rage and frustration into his white orbs.  

Moments later Ryoji released him.  "You're right Kenji.  It's no fun beating up someone who won't fight back."

"Told you." He motioned to the TV screen.  "You might want to come back and watch this.  They're going to bed."

~~~

TenTen knelt over the wheelchair and helped her husband stand to his feet.  The hospital staff had been kind enough to change him into the pair of pajamas she'd had Kotetsu bring over, and she was grateful to have that ordeal avoided.  At this stage with most of his wounds still raw, even barely brushing her fingers over his bandages brought him immense pain.  In perfect Neji-like form, he'd refused to take the painkillers he'd been given by the doctors and she'd rolled her eyes but went along with it.  If he wanted to feel the pain then that was his prerogative.  "Can you stand by yourself?"

"Of course."

"Okay." She pulled the sheets down from the top of the bed to create a spot for him to lie down and then returned to his side, helping him ease into bed.  She then lifted the covers and arranged them around him gingerly.  "Are you comfortable?"

He grunted.

"Neji, I'm going to sleep in the guest room.  The last thing I want to do is for you to open your stitches because I was sleeping restlessly."

He reached out and took her hand in his.  "That's okay, you don't have to sleep out there.  This is your bed too."

"That's very sweet Neji, but you won't feel the same way in the morning when your whole body is in pain." The last thing she wanted to do was have to deal with an irritated ranting and raving husband first thing in the morning.  "Besides, I have to wake up early to get Outarou-kun ready for school and I don't want to bother you then.  Your Mom will be over in time to make breakfast for you, okay?"

He sighed in resignation.  "Fine." He waved her away.  "Goodnight."

She smiled at his expression.  "I really am glad you're okay." She bent over and kissed his forehead.  "Goodnight."

She walked over to the closet and took down the next morning's uniform and carried it with her out of the room.  When she checked in on Outarou he was already sound asleep and she didn't have the heart to bother him especially after everything he'd seen, and resigned herself to her fate, another night spent on the lumpy couch.   Once she'd settled down onto the couch, her head resting on one of the cushions she remembered faintly that the air conditioning was on the fritz, sending the entire house into sub-zero temperatures, and that she had forgotten to bring out some sheets and that those were back in her room in the closet.  She didn't want to go back in the room and disturb her husband's attempt to sleep and it was already four-thirty am, so she wouldn't have to suffer through the cold for that much longer anyway.  Besides, some things were worth the sacrifice.


	7. Chapter VII

A/N:

Sorry about taking so long to update, but I really wasn't motivated to work until today.  Hopefully the next chapter won't be so hard to create.  This one is really short, but I promise that the other one will be full of action and fun as an alternative, and I always keep my promises.  Almost always anyway.

Chapter Seven

"Ah TenTen, it's so good to see you."

She smiled at the sound of the timid voice next to her.  "It's only been two days Hinata."

"And a lot has happened." She pressed her index fingers together in that nervous habit of his.  "Is Neji-niisan okay?"

"The doctor says he'll be okay with a little bit of rest." She sighed.  "It's going to take him a while to get over what he saw though.  Everyone died except him, and it's hard for him to acknowledge that he couldn't do anything to help them."

"Ohh…"

"Everything's going to be okay though.  I'll help him to forget."

Hinata smiled.  "You're such a kind person.  I'm glad Neji-niisan has you."

TenTen rested her head on her arms.  "I'm glad to have him.  I don't know what I would've done if I had to go through all of those things alone.  I probably would've become the monster my brother thought I was."

"You both are lucky, to find each other and to have Haruka."

That tipped her off.  "Is something wrong?"

The other girl shook her head.  "No."

"It's okay Hinata, you can tell me."

The girl sighed.  "Um…the truth is…I'm worried about Kiba-kun."

"About him?  He's fine."

"That's what I thought too, but he's been very moody lately."

"How can you tell?  He seemed normal to me.  He's just as loud and boisterous as always."

"I know." The Hyuuga girl hung her head in embarrassment.  "It's just…I can tell that his heart hasn't been in it lately.  He pretends to be having fun with us, but I know he's really not."

TenTen lifted her head and pushed the straw around in her drink idly.  "How long has this been going on?" She'd had him over recently, and she couldn't believe that she hadn't noticed he was depressed.

"Two months, I think."

"Two months?" TenTen echoed, bewildered that none of them hadn't noticed this earlier. 

"Ever since Naruto-kun and I started going out."

TenTen let out an all-knowing sigh.  "Ohhh…"

A look of confusion crossed Hinata's face.  "What?"

She smiled deviously.  "I know what's going on."

She didn't know why, but the glint in TenTen's eye made her blush furiously.  "What's wrong with Kiba-kun?"

"I can't believe you didn't see this, but he still has a crush on you." She didn't think it was possible, but Hinata had gone an even deeper shade of red.  To have that much blood hovering in one place had to be bad for the body.  She opted to tease the girl further.  "When he was over the other day we were talking about it, and poor Kiba is absolutely wild about you.  Who knows, he may even decide to fight Naruto for you."

Hinata gasped loudly, her hands covering her mouth.  "Kiba-kun shouldn't!"

"Love does strange things to men.  I never thought Neji was capable of being unselfish, but I learned otherwise."

Hinata got up from the table quickly and stammered something about going to find Kiba.

TenTen giggled at the look of horror she imagined would cross Kiba's face when he would be confronted by his crush about his feelings.  Of course, this was Hinata she was thinking about, so the girl would probably lose her nerve halfway there.  She sighed in dejection.  Meddling wasn't half as much fun as it used to be now that almost all of her friends were pairing off.  Maybe she should get some new friends just to interfere.

"TenTen-sensei!"

Darn.  She thought she'd gotten far enough away from the Academy for lunch that none of her students would be able to find her.  She turned around to find one of the girls from her class panting behind her.  

"TenTen-sensei come quick!  Daijiro and Katsuya are fighting!"

TenTen stood up and allowed the girl to drag her back across town to the schoolyard where most of the students had gathered in a circle around the wildly swinging boys.  "Where are the other teachers?"

"They're having a top-secret meeting.  We tried to tell them what was happening, but they told us to go away."

"What happened?"

"I didn't see most of it.  All I know is that Katsuya said something to Daijiro and then Daijiro punched him and that happened." She gestured at the fight.

TenTen couldn't ignore the childish part of her that wanted to watch this fight out to the end and determine which one of them really had more potential, but the more responsible adult in her told her that it was a part of her job to prevent skirmishes like this between her students.  She sprinted over to the group, parting the crowd easily and grabbed Daijiro around the shoulders, lifting him up into her arms.

"That's enough."

He kicked his legs up in the air, struggling to free himself from her grip.  "Let me go."

"I don't think so."

"Sensei, I want to kick his ass."

Katsuya swept blonde hair away from his eyes, causing all the girls to sigh dreamily and get hearts in their eyes.  "You wouldn't have had a chance baka."

"Oh yeah?  Let's have you say that to my face when the teacher isn't holding me back."

"I was beating you before she came.  Face facts baka, you're a worthless, talentless ninja."

Daijiro's swinging foot connected with her stomach, causing her to drop him and fall to her knees.  The boy was off and running towards his classmate before his feet completely hit the ground.

Katsuya was prepared for this and blocked the boy's attack effortlessly, smirking condescendingly at him from behind crossed arms.  "Is that all you have, loser?"

"Don't you dare hurt Katsuya-kun Daijiro!" A girl's voice warned threateningly.  

"Yeah!" Another one added.  "If you even harm one hair on his head you'll have us to deal with!"

"Then deal with me later!" He shouted back, advancing on his classmate again.  He leapt into the air and aimed a kick at the boy's face, but that too was easily defended against.  Daijiro scowled and landed easily several feet in front of his opponent.

Katsuya's eyes narrowed, but he continued to ignore his opponent.  A large amount of unfamiliar chakra was fluctuating somewhere in the current area.  He scanned the crowd, glancing at all the faces and quickly eliminated all of them.  It definitely wasn't coming from Daijiro, so there was only one person left.  His eyes settled on his teacher who was still kneeling down, her eyes downcast, gazing at the dirt.  He began to back off slowly.

"Where the hell are you going bastard?" Daijiro slammed his fist into Katsuya's cheek, reveling in the thud the boy's body made against the ground.  He pumped his fists into the air.  "_Yatta_!  I hit him!  Did you see it?"

Katsuya dragged himself back to his feet.  "You don't feel it, do you idiot?"

TenTen stood to her feet, her brown eyes hardening into an expression of anger.  "I thought I broke up this fight."

Daijiro stumbled back unconsciously, bumping into Katsuya who pushed him away quickly.  "Don't touch me idiot!"

"Ano…TenTen-sensei, I didn't mean to hit you."

She didn't even have to think to form the flickering flame around her right hand.  She brandished it at the boys in warning and then touched it to the ground, setting the grass ablaze.  "This fire doesn't go out unless I want it to." She waved at the grass, dissipating the flames.  "So think about that the next time you want to fight." She nodded in the direction of the building.  "Now get back in class."

The boys nodded and turned to go towards the room, but before they could even take a step in that direction there was a loud thud in the dirt behind them.

A girl's scream at the top of her voice alerted them to what the noise was.  "TENTEN-SENSEI!" 

Another crowd gathered outside the Ninja Academy just then, but this time it wasn't for a fight, but around the helpless body of their teacher.


	8. Chapter VIII

A/N: Sorry for the long wait and the short chapter, but I had a massive paper to write last week for my lit class.  Though I don't particularly like Sasuke, it fit his character to be the one used for my purposes in this chapter.  I hope it reveals something to all of you.

Chapter Eight

Thick lashes blinked rapidly, adjusting the brown orbs they protected to the bright light and the harsh whiteness of the room they were now in.

"SENSEI!" Several childlike voices chorused at her side, alerting the woman to the vein that was now throbbing painfully in her forehead.

She sat up and rubbed at her head, trying to assuage the pain.  "Where am I?"

A man with a slightly graying brown ponytail and a long scar across his nose stepped forward from amongst the small throng of children.  "You're at the hospital TenTen.  You passed out at school."

"Is that so?" She ran a hair through her now loose hair.  "The last thing I remember was breaking up a fight between Daijiro and Katsuya."

Daijiro blushed and changed the subject.  "You look beautiful like this sensei."

Iruka tightened his hand on the boy's shoulder causing him to "Eeep!" softly.  "Okay kids, why don't you clear out and give your teacher a chance to rest?"

The students groaned, but wandered out through the door, emptying the room of everyone save him and the occupant of the bed.  

"What happened?"

"According to Daijiro you passed out right after you conjured up fire without using a jutsu.  The doctors think it may have been exhaustion."

She rolled her eyes and leaned back against her pillow.  "So that's what the problem was?  Neji said the Phoenix was gone, but I just had to go and see for myself.  I am such an idiot."

"I called your house, he should be on his way.  The doctors insisted he be the only one to be allowed in, but the kids all cried, so we all compromised and said that they could only stay in for a few minutes and then they'd have to leave."

"Thanks for being here." She shifted positions again, sitting up and leaning against the wall.  "I really appreciate it."

"No problem." He smiled sweetly at her and then headed towards the door.  "I'll tell him to come in." Iruka opened the door and disappeared into the hallway.

A few minutes later he entered the room, leaning heavily against the walls to support him.  On his way in his eyes were downcast and his face looked withdrawn and sorrowful.  However, when he looked up and saw that she was awake, the sadness vanished and was replaced with the closest thing he did to a smile, a tiny brightening of the eyes, and his lips curved up from a frown to a blank expression.

He leaned over her and brushed a few stray brown strands away from her eyes.  "What happened?"

"Exhaustion.  I passed out after summoning the flames." She groaned, pressing the palm of her hand against her forehead.  "I probably shouldn't have done it."

He grunted.  "Damn right you shouldn't have done it.  Your body still hasn't completely recovered from having Haruka."

She rolled over on her side.  "It's been nearly seven months."

"That doesn't matter," he chided her.  "Look at me, I'm in better shape than you are and it still nearly killed me to summon the Phoenix."

She didn't like the free shot he took at her strength and thought briefly of mentioning the fact that he was the one who had come crawling home, but then realized that she was the one currently lying in a hospital bed and decided to ignore it.  "Where's your Mom and the baby?"

"She's still at home watching Haruka." He stood up.  "I really want to stay here with you, but I should get back to my training.  I'm sure Hokage will find something for me to do soon."

"Neji, you've barely been out of the hospital one day, you shouldn't push yourself."

"I'll be fine." He kissed her on the forehead and then stood up.  "I'll be back later to sit with you and I'll bring Haruka with me." With that he walked over to the door and exited.  He continued to walk towards the exit of the hospital, even when Iruka made a motion as if to get up and talk to him.  He didn't stop walking until he was some distance out of town and then faced a tree.  "You can come out now.  We're alone."

The trees rustled as a dark figure jumped down from amongst them.  "Report the status of your mission Fuyuki."

"Give me a moment." His hands reached up to his chin and peeled back the mask like a second skin.  "I'm more comfortable without this on."  Fuyuki was a relatively good-looking man, and the long dark hair was all his own.  He had a smooth baby face that was unmarred by battle scars.  The strangest thing about him was his eyes.  One was dark brown and the other was sky blue.

"Your report." The other man insisted.

"Successfully infiltrated the Hyuuga home.  No one has any reason to suspect that I am not indeed Hyuuga Neji."

"And your relationship with his wife?"

"She accepts me as Neji as well.  However, my supposed injuries make relations with her rather difficult.  I know it had to be believable, but a broken arm would've sufficed."

The other ninja ignored his sarcasm.  "And your other mission?"

"This is only the second time I've been allowed out of the house since my return, but rest assured I won't let anything stand in my way."

"Make sure that you complete your mission to the fullest.  There is no room for failure on either end."

"There shouldn't be a problem with that.  Apparently this Hyuuga Neji is a very cold standoffish man."

"Don't forget what we're really here for."

"Of course." Fuyuki smiled widely, his canine teeth shining in the setting sun.  "What sort of criminals would we be if we didn't commit crimes?"

~~~

Inuzuka Kiba groaned.  He had been assigned to find the bodies of Neji's teammates and destroy them, not a mission he treasured, even though he understood that with both Akamaru and his enhanced nose he could find them quicker than anyone else could.  What really made him dislike the mission was the fact that Uchiha Sasuke was the one who was assigned as his teammate.  

The incident with Orochimaru five years ago had changed him.  He'd always been cold and cruel, but now he spurned anyone that even tried to make contact with him, including the one person who wanted him to talk to her more than anyone else, Haruno Sakura.  Kiba may not have looked like it, but he was a gentleman, and he hated it when girls were treated with anything other than the greatest of care.  He'd often thought long and hard of giving Sasuke a piece of his mind, but despite everything he'd done, the last of the Uchiha clan was still the pride of the village, so he restrained himself, for everyone's sake.

Kiba's mood bled down into Akamaru, and the dog turned towards his master and gave him a questioning whine.

"It's nothing Akamaru."

Sasuke leapt from the trees, landing in a small clearing.  "Here they are."  And true enough, the bodies of three of Neji's teammates were lying there, broken and twisted, dried blood coloring the grass red near their necks.

Kiba scanned the clearing.  "Shouldn't there be one more body?"

Sasuke nodded.  "Hyuuga said he and Senrou went on ahead, these guys were ambushed, and then Senrou was attacked and killed before he could respond."

"We should find Senrou and bring him back here.  It would save us the time."

Sasuke agreed and set off with Kiba to walk in the direction Neji had relayed to them.  When they arrived, they found Senrou's body, the man lying awkwardly on his side, his mask broken and glassy eyes staring straight ahead.  Kiba bent down and gently closed the dead man's eyes.

Sasuke continued to survey the area, and a few broken tree limbs caught his keen eyes.  "Didn't Hyuuga say that he attacked and killed his enemies here?"

Kiba stood from where he was kneeling over the ANBU member's body.  "Yeah…"

"Look around, does anything look like it was burned."

"No…" he glanced in the direction Sasuke was staring.  "But it looked like there was a struggle and someone was dragged away."

"I'd bet anything that this supposed fight didn't take place here."

Akamaru sniffed at the blood on the ground and barked enthusiastically.

"Akamaru says that the blood isn't all Senrou's."

Sasuke stroked his chin.  "But it's not nearly enough to have come from the injuries he had.  So either the beating and his attack didn't take place here, or he was lying to us."

"Why would he lie?"

"I don't know," Sasuke replied honestly.  "But you'd better believe I'm going to find out."


	9. Chapter IX

A/N: crying I feel so bad about this whole thing.  I've been gone for a whole month, agonizing over what to do next, and this is all I have to offer you, this short in between chapter, and to top it all off, I have to start my summer job tomorrow, so now I may not even have the time to update once a week.  The whole thing is disgusting, however, at least you have this to tide you over, I guess…

Chapter 9

Futility was the word of the day, and perhaps, the understatement of the year.  Ever since he'd awoken to find himself locked in this chakra constricting cage, he'd been sitting in a corner going over plan after plan, scheme after scheme, devising ways to free himself and had come up with nothing.  Meanwhile, his captors seemed content to watch him agonize over escaping and to watch him silently seethe as they showed him more and more videotape of this 'Fuyuki' who had stolen his life.

The first few hours he'd been here he'd thought only of escaping to return to his wife and killing the impostor, but the more hours he watched the more creative the hypothetical tortures and killings became, involving more and more people.  In fact, he'd even had delusions of taking down whatever the name of the Kenji and Ryoji's criminal organization was single-handedly.  Of course, those delusions had been shattered quite quickly.  The building he was in seemed to serve as a base of some sort and by his count at least fifty individual ninjas had passed in and out of here in the last three days.

Kenji and Ryoji weren't on Neji torture watch today, from what he'd gathered by eavesdropping there had been two Konoha shinobi wandering around the area where he'd been ambushed, and the two men had gone out to ensure that no foul play was suspected.  His new guard was a thin, short mousy little man that he surmised he could easily overpower should the situation arise.  However, the chance of that situation actually arising was slim to none.

"Ahh…" Great, the idiot noticed he was awake.  The small man wandered over to his cage, smiling down at him.  "Well, well, well…" he glanced at Neji's headband.  "Come to think of it, other than saying you were from Konoha, Kenji and Ryoji never said anything about what type of ninja you were." He eyed Neji's face.  "You're still a kid, so I'd say, what?  Chuunin at the most."

"ANBU," Neji corrected.

"Ah…" he nodded like it made perfect sense.  "I trust you know all about Fuyuki."

"I've been informed," Neji didn't know why he was humoring the man, usually he just stayed silent when he was being interrogated.

"Well, tell you what, we're not going to force you to watch that video today.  In fact, you're probably better off not knowing what Fuyuki plans to do in that body of yours."

"Oh, and what does he plan to do?"

His captor smiled widely, as if he knew a secret no one else knew, "A little of this, a little of that, nothing for you to concern yourself with." He squeezed a tiny ball that he'd been hiding in his palm, "Of course, should you ever return to Konoha your reputation would be forever ruined."

Neji turned away from the man, convinced he had nothing useful left to say.

"Of course, it would be for the best should you just join us, seeing as your village will probably want to lynch you anyway.  Such a shame for Konoha, losing another genius clan member to a life of crime."

"Why would I ever join you?"

The man laughed, "Spend a little more time here and marinate on the situation you've found yourself in."

"Hmm…" Neji appeared to be thinking it over.  "That is one option," his bandaged arm shot out and grasped the man around the neck.  "But it appears I favor another option.  Open this cage."

"I'm not afraid of some kid who can't even use chakra."

"Oh?" Neji glared at his captor-turned-captive, feeling the veins that went along with Byakugan stretching across his face.  "What makes you think I can't use chakra?"

"Impossible!" He shouted.  "You should be unconscious by now!"

"It makes no difference to me whether you open the cage or I kill you and retrieve the key from your dead body.  Either way, this is the last moment I'll be spending locked away."

He gulped as Neji's grip tightened around his neck.  "Wait!  Wait!" A key appeared in his hands and then fell from his sweaty fingers to the ground.  He shrugged, "Oops!  Now if you'd just put me down I'll be happy to get that for you."

"No need." The young ANBU jerked the man towards him, smacking his head on the bars.  His body went limp on impact and Neji cast him aside easily.  Neji released Byakugan and sighed as the jolts of electricity running through his body ceased.  He wouldn't have been able to handle getting shocked for much longer.

Neji knelt down and stretched his hand out through the bars, exploring cautiously until his fingers bumped against the keys.  He managed to grasp an end of the metal object with his finger and dragged the item towards him.  Smiling in victory he stood up and unlocked the cage, stepping out into freedom.  Neji picked up the idiot and flung him into the cage, locking him in.

He shook his head briefly at the absurdity of the whole situation.  His keen mind had been unable to concoct a plan that would free him, but having an idiot for a jailer did the trick.  Anyway, he had no more time to dwell on such trivial matters.  He had twin brothers to kill and then had to move on to Konoha to stop this Fuyuki from doing whatever evils he intended to do in his body.  He was perfectly content with handing Fuyuki over to the proper authorities, but if he'd laid one errant finger on his wife, all the gods in Heaven and on Earth would not be able to save his soul.


	10. Chapter X

A/N: I had this long Naruto related rant prepared, something about me being wild about Itachi and realizing that I hated two of the pairings I put in this story, SasuSaku and NaruHina, and that I prefer them better the other way SasuHina and NaruSaku, but I forgot most of it.  What I really want to do is to beg you to read and review my story Ersatz over at fictionpress.com, and that's about it.  Love and Peace…

Chapter Ten

Neji hadn't been free for long before he ran into some familiar faces, some welcome familiar faces at that.  Sasuke and Kiba were still nosing around the bushes when he emerged.

Kiba was the first to notice him, or rather, Akamaru was.  He alerted them of Neji's presence by barking happily, a welcome change from the strange way he'd been acting around the man lately, refusing to go near him.  The ANBU's uniform was torn, his hair was a mess and the hollows in his face told of exhaustion and hunger, but his white eyes were focused and alive.

"What are you doing here Hyuuga?" Sasuke's tone betrayed nothing other than what he intended to convey, distrust.

"I don't have time for you," he clenched his fists tightly, his nails digging ridges into his palm.  Those thrice damned Shiratoris had proven to be nowhere to be found, meaning that most likely they were headed into Konoha.

"You're not going anywhere until you answer our questions."

Kiba was worried.  The older ninja seemed anxious to leave.  Too anxious, in fact, there had to be something else going on for him to be that skittish.  "Neji, are you okay?"

The ANBU ignored both of them and sprang up into a tree, charging towards Konoha.

"Finish things up Kiba," Sasuke ran after the elder man, intent on stopping him no matter what.  He eventually cut him off near the city gates.  "I told you that you wouldn't get anywhere," he smirked at him.  "There were some holes in that story you told Godaime."

"What story?"

"Don't play innocent.  The story about all of your men being slaughtered and you killing their murderers."

"That's a lie.  We were ambushed and my comrades were killed, that much is true, but I was captured by them."

"Then who told us what happened?"

"A man called Fuyuki.  The same man I'm going to kill," he snarled at Sasuke.  "Now get out of my way."

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that," Sasuke replied.  "The Hyuuga I know would never allow himself to be captured by cowards and criminals." He activated the Sharingan.

"Idiot!" That stupid headstrong Uchiha.  He always thought he knew best and was wrong most of the time.  "Do I have to kill you to get through to you?"

Before Sasuke could attack, a powerful pair of jaws clamped down on his leg, drawing blood.

"Don't be foolish Sasuke," Kiba warned.  "This is the real Neji."

Grateful to his friend for being the voice of reason he used the distraction to enter the city.

At that moment TenTen was hanging up the laundry outside her window, Haruka resting on her hip.  The baby had been fussy lately, crying whenever she was held by her father.  She supposed the little girl couldn't recognize him under all the bandages he was under strict orders to wear after he reopened his injuries training.  Godaime herself had even come down to his hospital room to give him a severe tongue lashing.

It was just like Neji and even Lee for that manner to constantly strive to get stronger despite their physical setbacks.  She found herself worrying about him all the time, similar to when they were children.  She laughed softly to herself as she reminisced.  Even though they had grown up physically, nothing much else had changed.

Before she started the laundry she had left her husband sleeping as per his doctor's orders, so it had been nothing less than a surprise when she spotted him coming up the stairs to the apartment, looking as if a horde of angry ninjas were on his tail.  The doorknob rattled as he shook it and before she could walk over and unlock it for him the door was kicked off of its hinges.

Neji stormed into the room, Byakugan already unveiled.  She was sure that everyone in Konoha could feel his chakra flaring.  It was almost enough to stop her from approaching him, but she knew he would never hurt her.

Neji focused on the dark-haired woman walking towards him, relief flooding his body when he saw that both she and Haruka were unharmed.  However happy he was to see she was okay he could not falter in his mission.  "Where is he?" the ANBU snarled, causing his wife to shrink back unconsciously.

"Where is who?" she replied, confusion vivid in her brown eyes.  Surely he didn't think that she was hiding another man here?

"That bastard who stole my face, that's who!"

Now he was talking crazy talk.  He was the only other man in this house, so why would he jump out of the bedroom window and suddenly charge in here rambling on about someone stealing his face?  She hated to even think about it, but maybe this last mission had taken a toll on his mind as well as his body.

"Neji," she began rationally.  "The three of us are the only ones here.  You really should lie back down and sleep off this delirium you seem to be in."

He ignored her advice.  "Don't believe his lies TenTen."

The bedroom door opened and 'Neji' emerged, his usual annoyed look plastered on his face.  "I don't mind you having visitors, but could you please keep it down?"

TenTen's head spun in confusion.  "Two Nejis?"

"Not two," the one standing near the broken door replied.  "Just one and the impostor I have to kill."

TenTen drew a kunai.  "Wait a second.  I don't know what the hell's going on, but no one's killing anyone here."

The one in front of her glared at the other.  "Take Haruka to safety."

'Neji' snarled.  "Don't tell my wife what to do with our child."

"Don't you dare claim them!"

"TenTen, I don't know who this is, but he intends to hurt our family."

"STOP LYING!" Neji couldn't take it anymore.  "I've watched you play your game for days, unable to do anything.  But now…" he clenched his bandaged fist.  "…I won't let you live to see another day."

TenTen's eyes narrowed.  How dare he?  "I don't care what you have to do, but I don't ever want to hear him say something like that again."

Neji's eyes widened in disbelief and his double's face twisted in a smirk that looked out of place on his features.  "Gladly," he advanced on Neji, vanishing and then punching him hard in the stomach.

Neji spat up blood, cursing mentally as he watched his wife cheer Fuyuki on.  Very well, he didn't intend to lose to a man like him no matter the circumstances.  He dilated his pupils and he could see the other man's chakra points(?) clearly.  His hands darted out and struck the other man.  "Two!" before Fuyuki could respond Neji's hand snaked out again, striking him more.  "Four!  Eight!  Sixteen!"

TenTen's eyes widened as she watched the man she perceived as an impostor use the Hyuuga clan's secret technique, continuing to seal off the flow of Fuyuki's chakra.  Chills swept up and down her spine as it dawned on her that the man she'd allowed to share her bed was a fake.  Her disgust was soon replaced with anger as she realized just how easily he had stolen into her life and she flung her kunai at his head before her brain even registered it.

That was her fatal error.  Fuyuki caught the kunai with ease, reached over and grabbed her around the throat.  "How did you escape?"

"Let her go," Neji commanded.

"You ruined everything.  Why couldn't you just stay in that cage until I was done here and come back to a ruined life with a wife and daughter who would hate you forever for not protecting them?"

"Not everything goes according to plan."

She didn't know why, maybe it was because she was angry or just plain tired of everything, but she closed her eyes and saw a flame ignite in her mind.

Fuyuki cursed as the hand he was restraining her with burst into flames.  He released the woman and flung her to the ground, waving his arm frantically until the flames died.

As TenTen fell she was too busy trying to make sure she didn't land on Haruka and hit the floor awkwardly, striking her head against the wood, losing consciousness.

That was the worst choice he could've made.  Taking into account his unconscious wife and the baby that was now crying loudly, Neji threw a punch at the man's liver and blood shot out of his mouth.

"Hyuuga Gentle Fist Taijutsu, ey?" he wiped the blood from his lips.  "This is the first time I've seen it in action and it hurts just as much as they say it does."

"I'm not going to let you leave here alive."

"Unfortunately young Neji, you have a habit of doing just that," the windows shattered and six ninjas dressed in black leapt inside.  "Don't worry," more blood spurted from his lips.  "We'll finish this up later.  You should attend to your wife and your own injuries for now," that said he and the rest of his men disappeared.

Neji moved to go after them, but exhaustion chose that exact moment to set in.  His limbs and muscles ached and his joints screamed in pain.  Adrenaline had taken him this far, but his body would not yield another inch.  He sank to his knees near where his wife fell and pulled her into his arms, resigning himself to rest for a few moments.

Haruka crawled over to her parents and rested her head against her father's knee.

They were only lying there like that for a few moments when he heard another door open.


	11. Chapter XI

Chapter Eleven

A/N: Once more, sorry for the brevity and the long wait, but I haven't gotten to watch Naruto for most of the summer, so my inspiration is a bit lacking to say the least. I cranked this out because I knew you would want to see some more and it is absolutely horrible of me to withhold it from you for so long.

Following Neji from the forest had not been an easy task. The older man had been running at an insane pace, and the wounds in his leg slowed him down considerably. Kiba had stayed behind to actually carry out his mission, while that nagging voice in the back of Sasuke's mind that occasionally protested his natural coldness and reminded him of the pain he had suffered at his brother's hands urged him on to find Neji. He couldn't shake the painful feeling that something terrible was about to befall the Byakugan master, not that he cared. He just didn't want to be blamed when all of this was over.

Despite the amount his peers respected his skills, they did have a habit of considering him as a selfish bastard and most of them didn't trust him any further than they could throw him, not that he cared. His fanclub had diminished considerably over the years, especially after his bout of selfishness and dismay in his weakness had resulted in some of his friends being seriously injured. Ino had been the first voice her newfound dislike for him, considering she had nearly lost both of her teammates. Soon afterward TenTen, a girl he barely knew began to glare maliciously every time she saw him, but he found that he didn't care. Sakura was the lone hold-over from his more talented kunoichi admirers, even that Sand-girl had suddenly forgotten about him, wherever she had disappeared to.

Nevertheless, despite the suddenly gaping hole in his life left by the sudden decrease in the drooling, sex-crazed girls who followed him around at every opportunity, Sasuke found that he was able to somehow move on with life. He pursued his quest to become stronger, but was determined to use his own power and not rely on handouts from others.

In the middle of his thoughts he realized that he was standing in front of the Hyuuga apartment and stared up at it. His gut feeling had been right, something was definitely amiss. The front door was broken off of its hinges and smashed to kinder and the windows were shattered. Now worried, a huge feat for someone who convinced himself that he didn't care either way about Neji's safety, Sasuke climbed the stairs and crawled in through one of the bedroom windows. A young boy was sitting on the bed in the darkness, his eyes shut tight and his hands plastered over his ears.

Sasuke ignored his shaking figure and proceeded out of the room, opening the door that led out into the living room as silently as he could, still with preoccupied by taking whatever intruder had broken the windows by surprise. Three kunai whizzed at his head and the dark-haired teen dodged without conscious thought. He drew his katana from the sheath on his back, activating the Sharingan at the same time. He wouldn't allow whoever just tried to take off his head a second chance to aim at him. He charged around the corner into the view of his attacker and nearly skidded to a stop when he took in the situation.

The Hyuuga family was obviously bruised and maybe broken in a few places, but they were otherwise alright. Sasuke kneeled near the only vigilant member of the household, Neji. "What the hell happened here?"

White eyes bored holes into red ones. "I chased Fuyuki off, but not without consequences. I don't know what he's planning, but he's in Konoha with backup and I've got reason to believe the Shiratoris are here as well."

"What about her?"

"She hit her head pretty good on the floor, she probably has a concussion."

"And you?"

"Wounded pride mostly, but I haven't eaten in days,"

Sasuke's voice took on a no-nonsense tone. "It's settled then. I'll take you both to the hospital."

"You can take her, but I'm not going anywhere."

"Don't be stupid Hyuuga. It's for your own good."

"If you think that's true, then you don't know the half Uchiha. Konoha is now under threat because of a decision I made when I was thirteen. I have to deal with this before it gets out of hand."

"Will you at least wait for Godaime to assign someone to help you?"

"I don't need her help Uchiha. I'm more than strong enough."

"Sure Hyuuga," he remarked sarcastically. "That's why you've been such an overwhelming success so far."

"You're one to talk," Neji countered. "You haven't exactly wowed the village with your display of skill against the one you seek vengeance from."

The Uchiha heir reached down and jerked the man to his feet, not caring that his action caused TenTen to hit her head on the floor once more, or that he may have caused her even more damage. "Take it back Hyuuga."

"Take what back? The truth burns, doesn't it?"

"Careful Hyuuga," he tightened his hands into fists. "You don't want to take this there."

"Wrong Sasuke-**_kun_**, I think you're the one who can't own up to your own weaknesses. Your quest for revenge is hopeless, but I'll succeed in protecting my family."

The two men who should have understood each other better than they did continued to stare each other down, angry chakra swirling around them. Neither of them wanted to be the one to throw the first punch, but they had both committed their minds and hearts to being the victor.

Luckily for both of them, or none of them, their fight was not to be on this day. There was a loud protesting noise and then a blonde and orange blur sped into the apartment, settling himself between the two glaring ninjas. "Hey Neji, I've been looking all over for you. Hinata-san's birthday is coming up and I wanted to know if you could help me pick something out."

"Get out of the way dobe," Sasuke snarled.

Naruto seemed not to hear him, or perhaps he had an innate skill for ignoring when people were angry with him. "Seriously Neji, I really need you to help me, if I don't get her the world's greatest gift we might break up. I saw her with Kiba the other night and I think he's trying to make a move."

Finally able to get a word in edgewise Neji shook his head almost imperceptibly. "This isn't the best time Naruto."

Disappointed, Naruto glanced around the small apartment, finally taking in the destruction around him. Neji looked pretty beaten up, not to mention the missing windows and surprisingly absent door. He knew it had been odd that their door was open, but hadn't thought about it. His wide blue eyes stretched to an almost unimaginable diameter as he saw the dark-haired woman lying unceremoniously on the floor, blood pooling around her head. "What happened?" he turned to face the two men who were still facing off. "Sasuke, what did you do?"

"I didn't do anything dobe, I only got here a couple of minutes before you." Sasuke backed away, finally realizing that his battle with Neji would not continue with Naruto standing there, his mouth hanging open dumbly. "Stop staring dead last and help me get TenTen to the hospital." He turned his back on Neji. "Whatever you're going to do Hyuuga, you should hurry up."

Naruto continued to stand there completely lost as the white-eyed ninja nodded and leapt from the window. Finally catching himself, he ran to the window, shouting after the departing figure. "HEY! I really do need your help!"

"Leave him alone Naruto, he's got something he has to do."

At the words of his former teammate Naruto turned from the windowsill, examining the fallen ninja with azure eyes. "We shouldn't move her."

Sasuke lifted the sleeping infant into his arms. "Then what should we do?"

"I'll go get some medics, you wait here."

Before Sasuke even had the chance to protest Naruto was long gone, leaving him alone with TenTen and Haruka, two people he didn't care for at all. All he could do was hope that the idiot Hyuuga wouldn't get himself killed and cause these two any more pain.


	12. Chapter XII

Chapter Twelve

A/N: Hahahahahahahahahahahaha, I managed to complete yet another chapter and the plot has thickened. Also I managed to get my old favorite pairing back into the story, god knows they haven't shown up since early in Possession. I know it seems like the story is progressing slowly, but I don't want to hurry through it either. Hopefully I can get ideas and motivation without either of the main characters appearing often in the show or manga. I'm also overjoyed to see the NejiTen genre growing with leaps and bounds and my pride would like to think I had a hand in that, even though you other authors are more talented than I am. I have read many of your stories, I'm just lazy and there's no excuse for it, I'll go back and leave reviews, cause I really do enjoy them.

Neji glowered at the woman standing in front of him. The Hokage had appeared out of nowhere, no doubt summoned by Naruto or Sasuke and she insisted on blocking his passage, spewing some nonsense about how he was too close to the issue and too clumsy to prevent such a delicate situation from spiraling out of control. She then casually mentioned that she was on her way to examine his wife, and then stopped just short of ordering him to follow her, but he knew the elder woman well enough to know that it was in best interest to obey her unspoken command lest he find himself being dragged through the town by his ankles.

He did follow the woman to the hospital, but not without protesting all the way there. Upon arriving she immediately ditched him into the care of the waiting nurses and Naruto, disappearing down the hallway into TenTen's room. He glared at the pretty young women, causing them to shrink back fearfully and then slumped into a chair next to Naruto. "Where's Uchiha?"

"Sasuke and Lee went to look for the person who was in your apartment."

"Tch." Neji crossed his arms in a less threatening gesture of anger. "They won't find him."

"Why do you think so?"

"He disguised himself as me. I think he's capable of becoming another ninja in this village just to achieve his mission."

"Mission?"

"He was helping the Shiratori brothers get their revenge against me, but there was something else his organization was planning."

"Like what?"

"If I knew that I wouldn't be here dobe," without meaning to he used Sasuke's regular insult for the blonde teen.

"But what about TenTen?"

Neji sighed. "That's not what I meant. I want to be here, but I also want to complete my duties as a ninja of this village. Fuyuki and the Shiratori bastards are my responsibility. To rely on someone else to complete that for me is shameful."

"Neji, none of this is your fault."

The white-eyed man rolled his eyes. "I can't take this. What's the point of being here if I can't even see her?" he stood up and moved to storm out of the hospital, but he found that he was being restrained by the younger ninja.

"Godaime said to keep you here however I needed to Neji, and I won't hesitate to knock you unconscious if I have to," the look in his blue eyes was one of hardened determination, and although he had faith in his own strength, that look was nearly enough to convince him that Naruto would make good on his threat.

"Fine," Neji sank back into his seat, practically pouting. "I'll wait."

"You're not the only ninja in Konoha you know. We're also capable of completing missions."

Nara Shikamaru groaned, unable to believe that he had been dragged out of his bed at such an unreasonable hour and forced to go on a village wide man-hunt. His girlfriend of five years, Yamanaka Ino had awoken him rudely when Kotetsu had come by, jumping on top of his still form buried under his sheets when he refused to move. She had told him in no uncertain terms to "Get his lazy ass out of bed or he would be in a world of pain" and at that warning he had sprung to life. He'd rather be stumbling through his day half-asleep than subject to torture at Ino's hands. She could be downright sadistic when she was ready.

And so he found himself at Kiba's side, watching as the other teenager constantly sniffed the air every few steps, his boredom finally taking hold of him. "How do you know what to sniff for?"

"I met the imposter. There's a slight difference between the way he smells and the way his subject normally smells."

"Ah," Shikamaru folded his arms behind his head. "So what's he like?"

"From Neji's report he has the ability to perfectly mimic anyone he's been in contact with for even a few seconds."

"So that means…"

"Yeah," both males looked around at the packed village square. "He could be anyone in Konoha."

Shikamaru sighed. "Somehow my life always becomes more and more troublesome," he kicked at a pile of dirt with the toe of his sandals. "Fuyuki may be skilled at transforming, but didn't Neji say that he escaped with six other ninjas?"

Kiba's face wrinkled in concentration for a moment as he tried to remember the copy of the report he'd been given to memorize just hours ago. "Yeah, that's why all of his windows were broken."

"Fuyuki may be able to hide himself, but six other missing-nins will be difficult to hide, even in a village this big."

Kiba nodded, even though he didn't see where the genius was taking this conversation.

"If we have Kotetsu and Izumo look at the records of everyone who has entered this village within the past few days then we should find the place they are hiding without any effort at all."

Kiba's mouth hung open in surprise. How had he not seen that connection? Searching for one man would indeed be difficult in a village full of people, but finding a group would be much easier.

Shikamaru yawned. "If that's all you need, I'll be going back to my bed."

"Thanks."

"No problem," leaving the dog boy behind he shuffled off in the direction of his apartment, his fantasy of hitting his pillow for a few hours suddenly the most welcome daydream he'd had in months. Ino would probably kill him if she knew about that thought. She always preferred it when his fantasies involved her, and if she could she'd probably program all of his thoughts that way. He had to admit that he thought about her more often than usual lately, especially with all of the hints she had been dropping lately. Two weeks ago they'd been passing by a jewelry store, and she stood in front of a wedding ring display for longer than was necessary. He realized that even though they'd started dating when they were just kids they had been together for five years, which was an agonizingly long time at any age, but marriage was the natural progression for a relationship that had lasted that long.

He'd been saving up his salary lately, and he eventually planned on buying her an engagement ring, if it meant she'd stop dropping her ridiculous hints. He'd put off the marriage for as long as was possible without him being physically abused, but with Neji and TenTen's relationship as the topic of choice among the village's younger women, he wouldn't be able to avoid it for long.

Shikamaru was fifteen paces away from his apartment's street when he felt a dark presence clutch at his heart. Without even meaning to, his breath shortened and began to come in ragged gulps. He felt his blood run cold and heavy sweats broke out on his face.

Three ninjas leapt down in front of him, their presence going unnoticed by the wandering crowd. He thought he vaguely recognized two of them, but the reason why they accosted him was completely beyond him.

"Hey!" one of them pointed at him, his face breaking into a smile. "I remember you."

Denial, Shikamaru admitted, was his best defense. He did his best to hide his emotional reaction and brushed past them. "I never met any of you before."

"Yeah bro, I know him too."

"You're right Ryoji, he was the plain looking kid with the hot blonde girl five years ago."

"You think he knows anything?"

"I think he's the little bitch that squealed."

"You know what?" the other one with the identical face stared at him. "I think you're right. Wonder what he'd do if something happened to his pretty little girlfriend. The two of you still together?"

Shikamaru didn't get the opportunity to respond. The selfsame blonde girl appeared out of thin air, as had become her habit. "Mou, Shikamaru-**_kun_**, I sent you out to do a mission for the Hokage and here you are hanging out with your friends," she shook her head in annoyance and grabbed him by the ear. "I swear, do I have to watch you every second?" she dragged him off towards his apartment, throwing an apology over his shoulder at the men standing dumbfounded behind them and then cursed several times at Shikamaru loudly enough for them to hear.

He happily went along with her punishment, only freeing himself from her iron grip after he was out of their earshot. Before she could berate him even more, he seized her cheeks and kissed her passionately.

Ino looked completely surprised and was blushing slightly. "What was that for?"

"You may not realize it, but you saved my life back there."

"Eh?" now she was totally lost.

"Those guys were the Shiratori brothers," he stared up at the clouds. "The same brothers who hurt TenTen six years ago. I don't know what they're doing in town, but they remember both of us. From now until we're sure that they've been captured I need you to be extra careful. Always make sure you go out with someone else, and I don't want you to even be home alone."

"Geez, Shikamaru, you could at least trust me. I am a ninja too, you know," the telltale signs of anger began to cross her beautiful face.

"I want to make sure you're okay. I'd die if anything happened to you Ino, you know that."

The blonde girl sighed, agreeing with her boyfriend even if she didn't want to. "Fine."

"Good." Suddenly his good day was ruined. He wouldn't be able to rest until those two and their friends were apprehended. Now Neji's obsession didn't seem so insane after all.


	13. Chapter XIII

A/N: Yay, I've finally gotten the impulse to update, especially after I put up a chapter of another fic I'm working on, this one dealing with Anko and Kakashi and that got good reviews. It's called Mutual Respect and you can find the summary on my profile. Now that I'm done pimping that fic, feel free to go ahead and read this one.

Chapter Thirteen

Kiba ran as fast as he could toward the Hokage's office, the people he passed going by as mere blurs. Shikamaru's idea was brilliant yet simple, he guessed that was why he made chuunin before any of the others. Even though the last few days he had been completely exhausted with missions, he felt as if he owed it to TenTen as a friend to make sure she didn't get hurt again.

He still couldn't believe that Fuyuki had managed to sneak into their lives and impersonate Neji without any of them being aware. A part of him even wondered what the man had been planning while he was waiting it out at the Hyuuga apartment.

Unfortunately while Kiba was thinking he wasn't paying attention to anything else and rammed right into a soft body. The person cried out on impact and then they both ended up, limbs tangled, rolling over a few feet before he crashed into the wall, the other person, who he had by now determined was a female, slamming into his chest.

He exhaled slowly, internally counting to make sure all of his ribs were still intact. All twenty-four were still there, but at least seven of them were poking something they shouldn't. He felt the person sitting on him shift and then soft white eyes were staring into his black ones. He felt the hotness creep slowly into his cheeks and ducked his head, trying to avoid his stare. "Hinata-chan? What are you doing here?"

She clutched at her side, appearing to be more hurt than he was. "I was on my way to Ino-chan's shop."

"I'm sorry," he sat up, shifting them carefully. Then with more patience than he usually had, he gently moved her hand from her apparent injury. He lifted the hem of her shirt slowly, apologizing with his eyes for the breach of privacy and touched his fingers to the slightly purpling bruise. "I should've been paying attention to where I was going."

"It's okay," she replied, trying not to wince as his fingers traced over the wound. "You probably had something important to do, and I was in your way."

"NO, NO!" he frowned inwardly at his shouting. From the look on her face he'd obviously scared her. "I mean, yes I had something important to do, but you weren't in the way. I should've been paying more attention."

Hinata eased herself out of his lap, more aware of how uncomfortable their position was than the dog trainer was. "What were you about to do?"

Kiba wracked his brain for that answer, his thoughts completely shaken from the collision. Finally it dawned on him, "I have to go to the Hokage's office. I'll see you later," he stood to his feet.

Hinata tried to stand but ended up falling back to her knees.

Kiba's brain told him that seeing Kotetsu and Izumo was more important, but his legs refused to respond. "Tsunade-sama was at the hospital anyway," he tucked his hands beneath her knees and lifted her up. "I'll just tell her instead."

Hinata's eyes widened after he picked her up. "Kiba-kun, you don't have to."

"It's my fault anyway."

"Now this is sweet," a voice above them spoke.

The heads of both ninjas swiveled upward to take in the intruder. He was dressed in black from head to toe, a half mask covering the bottom of his face. "What do you want?"

"Don't you know she has a boyfriend?" the unknown ninja shook his head in disgust. "What kind of friend are you?"

Inuzuka Kiba growled under his breath, clutching his hands into fists. However, before he could visibly react, Hinata grasped his shirt in her hands, shaking her head slowly. They had no idea how strong the other man was, so rushing rashly into battle would be self-destructive.

"That's right," the ninja warned smugly. "Don't do anything stupid. It'd be a shame to die in front of the girl you love."

"What do you want in Konoha?"

He laughed to himself. "This village has a lot of history, you know. A lot of ancient treasures and hidden techniques that would be very useful to some ambitious missing-nin, but stealing one of those is so everyday villain." He leapt down from the roof, landing just a few feet away from them. "It wouldn't be any fun to just do that."

"Then what?"

"What kind of idiot do you take me for? If I were to tell you our plans that would ruin the fun of watching you agonize over figuring them out." He circled the pair. "However, I will tell you this. We've got no problem with taking the girl."

Before he even realized it, Hinata was crying out in pain and being jerked away from his side.

Kiba whistled for Akamaru, the dog appearing from behind them. "Don't touch her," he barked, letting some of the animal in him bleed through.

"You're in no position to stop me."

"You aren't going to take her anywhere!" with that Kiba launched himself at his opponent, not caring for the niceties of jutsus or strategies, the only thing echoing in his suddenly one track mind was that he wouldn't let Hinata-chan get hurt because of him.

The unnamed ninja barely had the time to release his captive and throw up his hands in a block before Kiba was punching furiously at him with a speed he didn't know the teen possessed. As he continued to try to fend off the blows, taking one in the face and one in the stomach, he realized that the boy had no intention of letting him go and if he didn't find a way to escape he would suddenly find himself looking up from the fires of hell.

Kiba's mind barely registered the blood that was flying into the air as he continued to mercilessly pummel Hinata's would be kidnapper about the body. He heard something in his fist crunch as he made contact with one of the other man's concealed weapons. Even the pain that rang so clearly through all of his nerves did little to dissuade him.

He stopped when Hinata's screams finally broke through the barrier in his brain. Suddenly returning to himself, Kiba's eyes widened as he took in the blood all over his clothes and the man's many missing teeth. He convinced himself to breathe and took in several ragged breaths, calming his still-raging nerves. He had almost completely lost it, and in front of her no less. He glanced behind him as if to verify that she was still okay, and she was. Her eyes were wide and her mouth still open in a silent scream, but she was otherwise unharmed.

He lowered his eyes from her gaze, "I'm sorry you had to see that." He reached down and grasped the beaten and bloodied man by the collar. "Can you make it to the hospital on your own?"

When she had finally gathered herself, she nodded slowly.

"I'm going to turn him in," he turned away from her.

"Kiba-kun," at the sound of her voice he stopped walking. She ran to catch up with him. "If you don't mind…I'd like to go with you."

"You really should go to the hospital and get that taken care of."

"We can go together, after we get rid of him."

Kiba's heart sunk. She wanted to follow him to make sure he didn't kill his prisoner in her absence. She was still afraid of him. He set out at a fast pace leaping up to the rooftops, mostly because he didn't want to have to look at her and see the fear in her eyes.

Hinata chased after him, doing her best to keep up. Her former teammate was upset, he had just lost control of himself in order to protect her and she'd shown him the eyes she hated, the eyes that showed fear and weakness. She had to show him, make him see that she wasn't afraid, that she wasn't weak.

Her decision made, she cut in front of him, the boy skidding to a stop to avoid crashing into her for the second time today. She bit her lip, steeling her resolve. "Kiba-kun, I could've helped. I just stood there and didn't do anything, I'm sorry."

Adjusting the limp body he was currently holding over his shoulder, the boy looked at the tiles beneath his feet, at the street lamps, the trees, anything but at the girl standing in front of him. He was too a good friend. He wouldn't do anything to hurt her or Naruto. "It's okay. I wouldn't want you to have to blame yourself for this…" he gestured at the unconscious man.

Hinata nodded in acceptance, even though it was clear that the boy hadn't understood. The Hyuuga blood in her, no matter how weak, meant that she was able to take care of herself, and that no one should have to go so far to protect her. Her eyes were drawn to the thick liquid trickling down his forehead. "You're injured."

Kiba's black eyes wrinkled in confusion and then he reached up to his forehead, sweeping the blood from that spot with his fingers. He smiled halfheartedly, "I guess I am. I don't even remember getting hit."

Hinata opened her mouth to reply, but he cut her off before she could continue.

"Don't apologize again. It was my decision to fight for you. Now come on," he shifted the weight on his shoulders again. "We need to find out everything he can tell us."

The former Hyuuga heiress sighed, ignoring the pain that shot through her body at the action and followed him.

Kotetsu had been on his way out of the office to visit his sister who had once again been admitted to the hospital, when a limp body was thrown onto the steps in front of him. He looked up to meet the eyes of Inuzuka Kiba and Hyuuga Hinata, two of the village's younger ninja. "What's this?"

"I think he's connected to Fuyuki," Kiba replied. "You would do well to interrogate him right away, before he has any further accidents."

Kotetsu nodded and lifted the now stirring man to his feet. He barely got the chance to say thank you before both teens disappeared into the wind. "Well," he cracked his fingers threateningly and looked down at his new captive. "I guess it's just you and me now."


	14. Chapter XIV

A/N: sigh I'll disclaim for once. Naruto and all its subsequent characters are not my property. Motivation is still a serious issue, and the chapters just keep getting shorter and shorter. I want nothing more than to give you a good read that'll keep you at the computer for more than 5-10 minutes, but I stopped watching the anime after they started the filler arc, but I'm going to resume either this week or next week, and while Neji is alive it apparently isn't enough to flood me with ideas for this fic, but I did manage to finish this chapter with some wonderful development, so I'm reasonably happy. If you do need something by me to read though, try my story Ersatz on Fictionpress, it's good I promise cross my heart and hope to fry.

Chapter Fourteen

Sasuke and Lee returned to the Hokage's office at dawn empty-handed. Lee apologized to a half-awake Tsunade for failing in their mission and she offered a reassuring remark she was bound not to remember having said in the morning. Right before she took a nose-dive onto her desk she mentioned that Kotetsu had a prisoner, and after her soft snores began to permeate the otherwise quiet atmosphere both boys departed the office, Lee on his way home, and Sasuke in search of Kotetsu.

He found Kotetsu sitting on a chair outside a cell, lightly dozing. Raising an eyebrow, Sasuke tapped the older man with the toe of his sandal. Almost instantly, one eyelid opened to reveal a tired brown orb. "Uchiha? What are you doing here so late?"

"Stopping your prisoner from escaping," Sasuke replied, folding his arms over his chest.

Kotetsu laughed. "Trust me, he's not going anywhere. Your friend Kiba made sure of that," just as quickly as it had began, his laughter ended. "I ran down the list of all the possible targets, Hokage-sama, the sole survivor of the Uchiha clan, Uzumaki Naruto, the Hyuuga clan, even Konohamaru-kun, but he didn't seem to recognize any of the names."

"Then what is the next step?"

The man sighed. "I don't know."

Sasuke walked to the cell door, taking a chair with him. "Allow me to interrogate him."

Kotetsu's eyes widened, but he stepped aside. "It's your funeral."

Sasuke pulled the door open and sat in front of the prisoner. "Oy, I know you're awake."

The man extracted himself from his own tangled heap and stared up at his new captor from his new position on his back. "Another one? This village is just filled with incompetent ninjas, isn't it?"

Sasuke decided to cut to the chase. "What are you doing here?"

"I thought it was obvious," he wiped the dried blood from around his lips. "Serving time for attempted kidnapping."

The Uchiha didn't even bat an eye at his sarcasm. "Are you working alone?"

"Why ask questions you already know the answer to?" he smirked. "Come up with something new. Your friend over there already put me through the routine. If you don't mind, I'm too tired to sit through it again."

"What do you want with Hyuuga's wife?"

The prisoner directed the question back at him. "If you had the opportunity, what would you want with Hyuuga's wife?"

He had been expecting the deflection and moved on to the next question. "Why pick him to impersonate?"

"Do you really think I would answer that?" he tilted his head to the side, an amused expression on his face. "I'm not stupid _Uchiha_-**san**."

Sasuke clenched his fists at his side. "Is dying at the hands of your associates more terrifying than dying at my hands?"

He smiled. "Finally, a question worth answering," he drew himself into a sitting position. "Either way, I don't intend to die."

"Then you expect to escape?"

He shrugged. "Stranger things have happened."

"What is the name of your organization?"

"We don't have a name. We find that adds to the intrigue."

"What sort of missions do you accept?"

"Sorry," he pointed at Kotetsu. "He asked me that one already."

"What is your intention in this village?"

"I heard it's a good spot for a vacation," he glanced around the cell. "And all of your accommodations are top-notch."

Sasuke's right eye twitched, forcing himself to remember that they wouldn't get any information out of him if he sliced the man in two. "What will it take for you to tell us the truth?"

"Sake and a pretty girl or two," he laughed at the look on Sasuke's face. "You don't have to worry about compromising a couple of Konoha's virgins, though I wouldn't mind."

Sasuke clenched his fist. "Get to the point."

"Well, we are planning something, but I can't let you find out until its set into motion. More fun that way and all. As far as the Hyuugas, two missing-nin from your village suggested them. If it helps, they're identical twins."

Realization dawned on Kotetsu. "Those bastard Shiratoris."

"Yeah, them," he raised an amused eyebrow. "So they really did cause a ruckus here?" he shook his head in disbelief. "We never thought they were actual criminals, just spoiled brats. The world out there's full of wannabe ninjas like that."

"The point," Sasuke reminded him.

"I'd keep an eye on Hyuuga Neji if I were you. There's no way to tell when his personality will suddenly do a 180."

Neji sat at his wife's bedside, his eyes focused on her still form. Those bastards had almost gotten to her again. As he watched her breathing became heavier and her limbs stretched under the sheet.

He let out a sigh of relief. She was finally waking up.

On cue pale eyelids fluttered open, revealing big brown eyes. Bringing one callused hand to her forehead she blinked and sat up. "How long have I been asleep?"

"Nearly twelve hours."

Her brain suddenly cleared, she clutched the sheet to herself and adopted the best fighting stance she could come up with. "Are you the real one?"

"Would I still be waiting at your bedside if I was?" he slowly reached for her hand, not missing the flinch that went through her body at his touch and placed it on his face.

TenTen ran her fingers over his face, feeling the familiar lines. Suddenly relieved she wrapped both arms around his neck and sagged into his embrace. "Is Haruka okay?"

"Kiba and Hinata came by and they took her home. It's alright," he kissed her forehead. "I won't let anything happen to either of you, I promise."

"Have you figured out what they want yet?"

He sighed, not wanting to admit his failure.

By now she was a master of reading her husband's body language. "Neji, you don't have to beat yourself up over this."

"Uchiha and the others are helping. Maybe they'll be able to find out more."

She pulled herself into his lap. "I know it isn't over, but I don't want you to worry about anything."

He wrapped his arms around her waist. "I can't help it. I don't ever want to feel like I felt five years ago."

The door opened and a young nurse walked in. She blushed heavily when she saw the couple locked in their embrace and averted her eyes. "Hyuuga-san, I'm glad that you're awake, but visiting hours are over."

Neji stood, lifting TenTen up with him. He kissed his wife on the lips and then gently lowered her back down onto the bed. "I'll be back to visit tomorrow."

She nodded. "I'll be here waiting."

He stuck his hands in his pockets and shuffled out into the waiting room. As he began to make his exit, one of the visitors stood up and began to shadow him. Neji waited until he was just outside the hospital, and stopped standing in the circular pool of light that the streetlamps cast. "You're going to warn me?"

Laughter spilled toward him. "I'm not that fond of you."

He drew a kunai. "Then I guess I should be afraid for my life."

"That would be wise."

"Then you picked the wrong night. I've already died," Neji spun around, fully intending to fling the kunai in a deadly arc towards his opponent, but instead the weapon clattered to the ground.

Standing mere inches from him was his wife, her brown hair unbound, cascading down her back. She wore the chuunin uniform that she usually sported, but the vest was notably absent, the tight material clinging flatteringly to her body. An alien smirk covered her features as she stretched her hands over his shoulders, pulling him closer. "Careful honey," she drew circles on his back with her fingers, her words coming out in a sexy drawl. "You wouldn't want to kill your wife by accident, now would you?"


End file.
